Nature & Wildlife
More-than-human animals predate humans on Earth by approximately 500 million to more than 800 million years. While modern humans (Homo sapiens) have existed for only about 300,000 years, the first animal life (likely sponges) appeared in the ocean hundreds of millions of years prior to the human lineage.
Nature & Wildlife
Our impacts on the natural world can be very large—and often detrimental. This manifests in various ways, including in biodiversity loss, climate change, habitat destruction and pollution. These changes can have cascading effects on ecosystems and human societies, leading to a range of challenges.
Nature & Wildlife
Just exactly how many species are there in our big, diverse world? And where, precisely, do they live?
Conservation
Stories of animals venturing into and enjoying new places have been one bright spot during the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic of 2020.
Conservation
More than eight million tons of plastic debris end up in our oceans every year. Present in nearly every oceanic layer, plastic garbage today accounts for nearly 80 percent of all waste found in our oceans.
Videos
Next Monday, April 22, 2019, the world will mark its 49th Earth Day. The first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, was inspired by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who modeled it on the antiwar protests of the late 1960s. The original Earth Day began on university campuses as a national “teach-in” on environmental issues.
Nature & Wildlife
The longer days and sunnier skies are signaling the arrival of beach vacation season. If you, like many, love to spend time by the ocean, it’s time to appreciate all that our oceans do for us every day, especially on World Oceans Day.
Conservation
There’s a famous, one-word line in the 1967 movie The Graduate, when a well-meaning man advises a young college student, played by actor Dustin Hoffman, to think about the direction of his future. “Plastics,” the man says. It seems as though that future is here. Today, our culture is subsumed by the ubiquity of plastics.
Videos
A picture is worth a thousand words—or at least that’s the idea behind the actions of Jeremy Buckingham, a Greens Party member of the Australian Parliament.
News & More
Citizen science has become an important tool for scientific research. Now, as funds for federal agencies and state natural resources departments around the country shrink, using ordinary folks to gather and record wildlife and environmental observations stretch limited research dollars by getting reams of data for free. NASA relies on amateur astronomers for asteroid observations.
Nature & Wildlife
Although experts have been warning of an imminent sixth mass extinction for almost four years, to date most conservation appeals for battling the crisis have been, at best, attempts to stem the tide. None have claimed to be permanent and sustainable solutions—until now.
Conservation
It’s been 44 years since Wisconsin’s—as this Wisconsinite is proud to say—Senator Gaylord Nelson inspired the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Modeled on the antiwar protests of the late 1960s, the original Earth Day began on university campuses as a national teach-in on environmental issues.
